Sunday, June 17, 2012

European countries need to adopt the “Canadian approach” in dealing with
looming political and economic turmoil, Prime Minister Stephen Harper says.

That’s
the message Harper is taking to world leaders at the G20 economic summit in Los
Cabos, Mexico on Monday and Tuesday.

Should Greek voters reject tough austerity measures set out in a
financial rescue plan in a government election on Sunday, the stage could be
set for the country’s exit from the bloc of nations using the euro currency.

Canada’s message is that “economic growth and fiscal discipline are not
mutually exclusive, they go hand in hand,” Harper said.

The government is suggesting Canadians didn’t experience a financial,
banking or a real estate meltdown as in other countries due to its “strong
record” of fiscal discipline.

That allowed Canada to “quickly put in place extensive, effective
stimulus measures when they counted the most,” Harper said.

“We
had budget surpluses and a low and falling debt burden when the crisis hit,” he
said, adding: “It is one reason we have weathered the economic crisis so much
better than many others.”

Sunday, June 10, 2012

“Go back to school,” Canadian racing legend Jacques Villeneuve told
protesting Quebec students trying to disrupt this weekend’s Grand Prix in
Montreal.

The Formula 1 races that attract 300,000 people and up to $90 million in
revenues to Montreal are a target for the coalition of radical students opposing
university tuition-fee increases.

Police clashed with protesters – in their fourth month of a strike and now-daily
rallies – trying to disrupt the opening Grand Prix red-carpet event when 37
people were arrested.

Villeneuve
told reporters the student movement has been damaging to Quebec society and
“makes no sense.”

Student protesters, now joined by those opposed to the “practices of
global capitalism,” want people to jam the subway line going to the island in the
St. Lawrence River where the big race is held on Sunday.

One event was cancelled earlier
– an open house in the pit area to view the cars and meet with drivers and
mechanics.

“When you attack the
Grand Prix, you're not attacking the Government of Quebec but all Quebecers,” Premier
Jean Charest said, appealing for calm.

The government wants to raise
tuition fees from the lowest in Canada by about $254 a year over seven years to
$3,800 a year.